He and Greg finished 3rd at Bathurst. Being his first full drive, he finished the year well in 6th and broke through for his first round victory in the last round of the season at Sandown Raceway. Kelly finished ninth in the championship, behind his brother Rick in eighth.
He drove for the Holden Racing Team from 2003 until 2007, and Jack Daniel"s Racing in 2008. He moved to the new formed family team Kelly Racing for 2009 and onwards. He is the youngest driver to have reached 100 starts in the series.
Season 2001 was Kelly"s first full-time V8 drive in (although he had previously raced in the category in 99" and 00"), he drove for the K-Mart Racing Team alongside Greg Murphy.
Season 2002 saw him take four second places, and fifth in the championship. After two successful years with K-Mart Racing Team the departure of Jason Bright left a vacancy at the Holden Racing Team in 2003.
Kelly was part of the two-car Holden Monaro assault by Garry Rogers Motorsport on the 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour race. Season 2005 was Kelly"s most successful year in, claiming five podiums.
He finished 4th in the standings, ahead of teammate Skaife in fifth.
Kelly"s 2006 season was fairly average throughout the first six rounds, albeit largely through mechanical failures, however after strong driving performances at the next three rounds including second in both the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 when he paired up with younger brother Rick Kelly. Kelly"s seat was taken by Herpes simplex virus Dealer Team driver Garth Tander. He was just starting to show some of the form that had him finish fourth in championship in 2005.
He finished the year off strongly, with a second and first place in the last two rounds which left him in sixth place at the end of the year.
He came second at Phillip Island and at the Grand Finale, finishing seventh in the championship. In doing so, helped secure Garth Tander the drivers championship.
At the conclusion of the season, Kelly announced he would drive for Jack Daniel"s Racing from 2008 onwards after a five-year association with HRT. Kelly"s 2008 proved to be inconsistent. After starting the year well at Clipsal, where he finished fifth for the round, the middle part of the season saw a lack of the results expected from Kelly.
After a major suspension geometry issue was resolved during the course of the Bathurst weekend, the car showed a sudden turn of speed.
Kelly finished the season in 12th position.
He is the older brother of fellow V8 Supercar driver and former Bathurst 1000 winner, Rick Kelly. Kelly and new team mate Mark Skaife won the Sandown 500 win. With co-drivers Jason Bright, Greg Murphy and Peter Brock, Kelly won the race with Murphy crossing the line only 0.3505 seconds ahead of the teams lead car (and the 2002 race winner) driven by Garth Tander and co-driven by Steven Richards, Cameron McConville and Nathan Pretty. Three of them were wins, including the Bathurst 1000 with Mark Skaife - leaving them as the last Holden pairing to win the race - and also the one and only round held at Shanghai. Season 2007 was another average year for Kelly, he won the Clipsal 500 but was not able to continue that edge. This move is believed to have also been supported by 2007 champion Garth Tander confirming he will be moving from HSVDT to HRT. He finished 4th at Surfers Paradise, then scored a stunning race win in the wet at Symmons Plains, the first victory of any kind (race or round) for a Perkins Engineering entry since 2006.
